On the Edge
by iBumbuum
Summary: Before she could even batt an eye, he ghosted in front of her; his crimson eyes gleaming with raw intent, black commas swirled in ominous transit around his iris. His black cloak billowed with delayed movement, enclosing her for a short moment before she could catch her breath. His face leveled with hers.
1. Preface

Xxxx Preface xxxX

Her face was breaking. Her features twitched in deliberate vain and her brave exterior was crumbling underneath herself with every shallow whisper of doubt she rendered against herself. A few small whispers of confidence attempted to break through her mental walls, and as her face moistened with sweat, her eyes burned with rage. She was perhaps her own worst enemy, but also, her only friend. Her fists tightened visibly inside her black gloves. Although her confidence was simmering away, she stood immobile and strong against the man who caused the hatred that fueled so bitterly inside her. Time seemed to pause generously; her world seemed to slow to a stop. The man, who stood before her, stared passively at her figure. Not observing, not even curious about her sudden appearance. He seemed to have no feeling, and only stared unblinkingly.

Time remained stagnant among her. The only sound audible was her ragged, intense breathing. She was not weak, she chided. She was not going to blunder underneath herself. This time, she wouldn't cower. This was it.

A small, twisted smirk made its way upon his scarred face, which surprised her, much less angered her.

"Sakura." He breathed ominously, "Pleasure."

"Don't speak my name," she spat.

His expression failed to change, "Your chakra trembles, you are weak."

She cringed, acknowledging her dwindling chakra level, since her previous battle had ripped so much energy, her knees felt like they could collapse beneath her any second. But she was not weak, dammit.

"Weak is something I'll never be again." She retorted venomously, her anger rising. "My fists could crush your damn skull."

"Are you threatening me. . . Sakura?" Before she could even batt an eye, he ghosted in front of her, his crimson eyes gleaming with raw intent, black commas swirled in ominous transit around his iris. His black cloak billowed with delayed movement, enclosing her for a short moment before she could catch her breath. His face leveled with hers.


	2. Chapter 1

The bitter wind of fall rushed against her. It had been three hours since the group had abandoned her to examine elsewhere—an explosion erupted somewhere in the distance and they had all disbanded, instructing her—disappointingly—to watch over camp. She had argued that a medic tag along in their group, but they disregarded her request once another explosion dismantled another section of the forest nearby; dozens of birds fled into the sky. She made herself comfortable, yet still vigilant, while she sat around the dying fire. Her breath clouded into the air as she fiercely rubbed her reddened hands together. Subconsciously, she scanned the area for any alien chakra and when she finally convinced herself it would be another hour before her group returned, she doused the flames and crawled back into the tent. Their mission was their simplest yet—rescuing a seized young girl from being forced into polygamy. Ever since Naruto had been sent to resume his training for the jounin exam, she had been appointed rescue missions specifically by Tsunade, who said that she should only be doing casual ranked missions until their exclusive mission was assigned. Their exclusive mission, however, she only knew little of. It had been classified since Tsunade had accidentally mentioned it, and then succumbed to Nartuo's invasive begging.

She only knew that the mission required her full potential strength. It could be a number of things, Sakura thought indifferently. But the thought of a dangerous mission aroused a sort of eagerness inside her—these missions just weren't doing any justice for her iron fists. As a medic nin, she generally enjoyed rescue missions, but the action—the heart of it all—was absent. Which was why she had been so distraught when instructed to babysit camp whilst they were all probably fending off an enemy intrusion, or perhaps a nearby trap that had been set off. By an animal probably, Inner Sakura chanted unconvincingly. She sighed.

The pinched corner of the tent suddenly burst open as her kunai embedded into the ground—the small shadow of an animal skittered away with fright and again, Sakura sighed. Her attention was swaying, and she wondered dimly if her team would return unscathed; maybe then they would realize she was right. You always need a medic, her inner self cried. She hugged her knees dejectedly, and pursed her pink lips. Damn it all.

* * *

"She'll be fine."

Shizune grimaced, slowly running her delicate finger along the chair's arm in thought. Tsunade stared at her expectantly, then sighed, folding her fingers under her nose.

"Sakura has acquired many abilities since you have last seen her preform—I taught her myself." Tsunade folded her arms and leaned back, "If she fails this mission, I would be forced to retire from my teaching position. It would only fall back on me. Sakura is strong—she knows this well."

"But does she know about—"

The door behind them burst open and a Jounin stumbled in, his face blossomed pink and he tripped over his own feet.

"Tsu—Hokage-sama, the Sound has taken action against us."

Tsunade stood abruptly, several stray papers flew freely from her desk.

"That can't be possible, Orochimaru—"

"They're threatening war. It isn't Orochimaru."

"Then who—?"

* * *

Two hours passed and there were no sign of return from her team. By now, Sakura had geared up, wrapping her utility belt around her waist, adjusting her weapons into their correct pouches and finally, slung her large backpack over her shoulder. There was absolutely no time to lose at this point, her team might as well already be dead. An angry fire flared inside her as she damned them all for telling her to stay. She mounted a tall tree nearby and perched herself among the highest branch, looking out beyond the treetops. There were about four patches of tree tops missing, and even ribbons of smoke still rose into sky. Damn. She shot off into the forest, bouncing from branch to branch until she stumbled upon a destroyed opening; the trees were scorched from top to bottom, and the ground dipped like a deep crater; the edges were still charred and lit like angry charcoal. Her initial thought was that a bomb had gone off, destroying the whole remote area. Slowly, she made her way to the edge of the crater, kneeled down and sampled the cool blackened soil between her fingers. It defiantly wasn't a bomb. Then what had caused the explosion?

A kunai whizzed passed her ear. She turned abruptly, just in time to intercept another weapon with her own kunai. It ricocheted and embedded into the ground. She leapt across the other side of the crater, and unveiled shiruken between her fingers. She held still. Silence pulsed. Nothing else came, her eyes darted every which way and she knelt down.

Her fists began to illuminate with fiery blue chakra, and without hesitation, she leapt into the sky and came down with her fists. The ground erupted with the impact; her signature move decimated what was left of the area. There was nothing. Confusion dawned on her. The hell? She relaxed slightly, her face twisted in confusion. She stood their stupidly.

"Sakura!"

She turned so abruptly she thought her neck would break and she clutched at her beating heart. Her teammate! She was alive! There, behind her, her teammate ran into the opening. However, her hand clamped over her eye, which was trailing blood down her petite, dirtied face. Sakura's heart went out to the poor girl, and her first instinct was to bandage her up and call for her team. But then, she darkly remembered that they weren't going to respond.

"What the hell happened?" Sakura asked, knocking her teammate's hand away gently and replacing it with her green glowing hands. Tears fell from her face as she trembled. This surprised Sakura, as this women was a well known brute; tough, unfriendly, and void of emotion. But here she was, bloodied and broken. Her entire attire was disheveled and bloodied. She was so unkempt that Sakura thought the poor woman was going to collapse into her arms.

"Where are the others?" Sakura asked quickly, tilting the girls chin up so she could look into her healthy eye, "where are they?"

The woman blubbered something incomprehensible, and Sakura grabbed both of her shoulders to steady her.

"T-they aren't–they can't—oh god!" She collapsed into Sakura's arms. Sakura cursed quietly to herself, but she was too taken aback to say anything more. She patted the woman knowingly, as she knew what this women was feeling. She remembered sourly how frightened and heartbroken she had been in the Forest of Death when she was only a Genin; Orochimaru had cast upon both her and Sasuke their own death. It had felt like her heart had stopped, and her eyes stung with unshed tears. It wasn't until she felt the warm embrace of Sasuke that she was saved from herself as he carried her away from her true death. That—and the night Sasuke abandoned her. Those were the only times she truly felt like this poor woman in her arms. Subconsciously she held the crying woman tighter.

Sakura, with the woman's arm slung over her shoulder, made her way among the treetops, careful not to jar her injured teammate. The air smelt suspiciously like burning flesh mingled among the fresh, cold scent of fall. She knew something was amiss as soon as she touched ground, gently setting her teammate to her feet.

"Where are the others?" Sakura asked gently a second time, tending to the woman's wounds with her green hands. She subconsciously sniffed the air again. She didn't want to admit to herself that she was—technically—lost. There had been nothing around but miles of brush save for a connected branch of rivers that provided relief for her and the woman every couple of miles. When first assigned to this mission, her team had not only mapped out the area in its entirety, but indeed had a specific path in which prevented them from unluckily stepping into booby traps—which was apparently too late. The said area wasn't owned by the Leaf's allies—which explains the rigorous attempts to kill them—but instead a hidden sound village that had been corrupted by Orochimaru four months ago.

"I—they didn't make it. The trap had already gone off, but they had gone ahead of me so I only received the aftermath. This entire area has been planted with them—but we knew this—god dammit! We mapped it out! Why weren't they more careful?" The woman tore her arm away from Sakura—which she was tending to—and smashed her fist into the ground. She continued cursing to herself and Sakura decided to use the time to touch briefly on their surroundings. The black soil she examined earlier wasn't burnt, but more like—like Satetsu—which was iron sand, only used by the Third Kazekage—who of course was dead. It was suspicious. It also meant a sand ninja lurked among them—one that uses magnetic chakra—not just sound, which meant this was a whole new ball game if they were under attack by their allies, which meant war. But otherwise, she had no idea what to do.

Her rescue mission was still intact for the time being—that young girl was in desperate need for rescuing. But a hideout hidden deep within the brush was not easy to locate, in fact it was incredibly difficult. Not to mention the traps embedded in various areas which surrounded them like a barb-wired fence—which Sakura no longer knew the locations of. She felt sick.

"You know," her teammate began quietly, whisking Sakura from her thoughts as the girl began probing her own body for critical wounds, "we should have listened to you—you know—when you asked to come with us."

Sakura smiled cheerfully in return, obscuring her dejected feelings, "It's fine, really. We should really find some fresh water to clean you up. You're filthy."

Luckily enough, a river bed lied only yards away. She could hear the violent rush of the water in the distance and despite her underlying fear of being spotted, something told her the color of her hair didn't particularly help. The river helped ease some of her escalating anxiety as she swallowed the alluring view. It stretched as far as she could see both ways, which she assumed ran off a waterfall somewhere. The skies among them were overcast and somber—a storm brewed somewhere in the distance—tainting the water an inky black. The current seemed unusually fast and the river stretched about forty feet across—despite it's beauty, the water crashed ominously against sharp, protruding rocks.

"Be careful," Sakura warned, laying down her backpack and slipping off her boots. She dipped her feet hesitantly into the water—which was as cold as ice—and shivered lightly. Next to her, the woman leaned over the edge, cupping water into her hands and splashing it into her face repeatedly, occasionally taking a drink or two. Sakura wondered dimly if she could remap the area, she was sure they were particularly close to enemy grounds. Well, technically everything around them as of now was enemy grounds since apparently Leaf's allies were slowly becoming axis. Otogakure was only an hour away, so the idea of Sound nin patrolling the outskirts were inevitable—which explains why they were greeted with a welcoming booby trap, and traveling anywhere around their location was a risk in itself. The young girl—their mission all along—had been abducted from the Hidden waterfalls village and carried through a remote location just north west of the Valley of the End—Sakura pleaded her group not to travel through that area as it brought back painful memories of Sasuke and Naruto's failure to return him, but of course that's not what she told them at all. Instead she suggested a "short cut"—one that probably put them in the predicament they were in.

"Do you have any food with you?" The woman asked suddenly, turning to her. Sakura noted with displeasure that the woman's eye had been slashed briefly, but enough to do quite a bit of permanent damage. The cut laid angrily across her eye and led over her nose—she wondered if it was a kunai that had done such ugly damage. Sakura mentally diagnosed her, knowing that if she was in place at the hospital, this woman would have at least a slight chance at seeing through her damaged eye.

"Yeah, in my pack pack—back there." her backpack was unusually large, full of—well, basically everything from nourishment to weapons. Food was not a problem.

Sakura stood up—

"Ah!"

Excruciating pain ran through her back and she arched in pain, screaming before falling forward into the violent water. Suddenly, she was being carried downstream twenty miles an hour, bobbing under the water and above before she could even remember how to filled her lungs and she flailed violently as she was pulled under once more, thrown against several rocks, and then pulled back again. She thrashed with all her might, too distraught to realize how fast the current was pulling her downstream, the pain in her back long forgotten. Finally, she was pulled under once more, this time she remained under, and certain face flashed across her mind. It felt like minutes as she stared blankly at the rippling surface, her vision no longer in focus. She was going to die. She was going to die and nobody would know. She was going to die and never see Naruto for the last time, Sasuke for the first, and her potential life beyond her current. Sasuke's face began to drown her faster than the water. He would never know the love she truly felt for him.

He would never know that every night she slept with the Team seven picture facing down, just so she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night and cry. He would never know that once a month, she would buy a bouquet of flowers from Ino and leave them on his front porch in memory, and argued with anybody who refused to acknowledge he was no longer a part of her. He would never know that she kept Tsunade from selling the Uchiha estate by sleeping on his steps every night for three weeks, just so they were forced to keep it. He would never know the effort she put into keeping his presence alive among the village. Then she realized, sadly, that was what love was.

She closed her eyes.


	3. Chapter 2

Tsunade rubbed her temple fiercely. She was anything but ready for the news that flooded her ears; war, war war. The last god damned thing they needed at a time like this. She had no plan to implement, and she couldn't risk anymore of the village's shinobi. If a war was what they strived for, they were utterly ludicrous. Laughable, even. The Hidden village of the Leaf would not be a laughing stock, Tsunade refused to let things come even near that. Her pride was nothing short of indestructible—but Sound had a throat hold on her, and if she didn't do something about them, who knew what kind of destruction awaited. It was too many innocent people to risk to just sit back and do nothing—unless she had a concrete plan, they were doomed.

"Shizune," she barked, waving a hand at the young woman causing her to jump in surprise, "bring me Nara."

"Hai—!" Shizune bowed curtly and left without another word. Shikamaru would surely enjoy this favor. When Shizune returned, the overly lethargic man trailed in behind her, his face a cross between quizzical and careless.

"Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru nodded in acknowledgment, Tsunade returned the gesture, crossed her fingers underneath her nose, and sighed heavily.

"Nara." She began hesitantly, "I have a mission for you."

A brow went up, and Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets, "yeah?"

"Currently, in this position, you are eligible—and predictably prepared—for a greatly required, jeopardized, and much important mission, yes?"

Shikamaru stared lazily and cocked his head slightly, "What are you getting at?"

Tsunade leaned forward casually, shuffling a stack of fresh paperwork before her, "We need you—have a seat." She gestured towards the chair. Shikamaru complied without a word.

"We have a serious complication, much to do with Sound—which is no real surprise—"

"Orochimaru?" Shikamaru cut in quizzically.

"—no." Tsunade sighed again, leaning back and crossing her arms. She had no firm way to put this, it was just too complicated, "You see, that's the issue."

Shikamaru scoffed and narrowed his eyes darkly. Tsunade gazed firmly at him, and a few moments of silence passed. Shikamaru broke the thickening silence, "It's an issue that we aren't dealing with Orochimaru?"

"Shikamaru—it's Sasuke."

* * *

_Sasuke_-_kun_. . .

Sakura's eyes fluttered open—which very much surprised her. She was alive? However as soon as she jostled herself, she moaned in pain. Yup, defiantly some things broken. Her ribs screamed, but most importantly she felt like she had to—

She leaned back over the edge of the water and regurgitated her lunch. She remained at the edge, absolutely shaken. She had been washed up the mouth of the river, into the body, and tossed onto the shallow shore where she lay. The skies were still as black as her bruises. How long was she out? Then, she remembered—vaguely—what had happened. Her teammate stabbed her. Tried to kill her. Which suddenly drew attention to the pulsing pain in her back—the weapon was still embedded into her back. A kunai, perhaps.

She leaned over and was sick once more. Dammit, how could she have let her guard down. Attempting to get up, she winced in pain, laid her palm on her ribs and began to heal herself. She stopped. Her fingers flickered and the green light died. Her chakra was dwindling unbeknownst to herself. Decidedly, she went for a more organic approach. If she couldn't heal herself—herbs and bandages would. She wasn't a medic for nothing. But first things first—she had to rip the kunai from her back, which she presumed would not only be difficult, but insanely painful. But pain never scared her.

Suddenly, she found herself on her stomach once more. She could barely move. Panic slowly eased into her aching head. What was wrong with her? It felt like her body had fallen asleep; she went limp and crumbled back onto the ground. She closed her eyes, and tears threatened to fall. It hurt so much. She could nothing about it, which angered her still. Nothing boiled more rage inside her than the idea of not being able to do anything about a situation. Derived from her childhood, when Sasuke and Naruto had much left her behind, she had learned that in time, she could not afford to be weak. Her friends needed her as much as she needed them, and although her smarts kept her alive, in the end, her courage would lead her through.

Sakura knew she was poisoned. Her thoughts touched briefly on a past patient who, ironically, took a kunai to the back. However, he was poisoned orally, and he had been rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She remembered Tsunade had praised her at the end of the night, as the patient had unexpectedly pulled through, and Sakura was surprised the poison had been neutralized. But of course then she had Tsunade's assistance. It had still robbed her of chakra expedenture none the less, with or without the Hokage's help, which left her to wonder how she could possibly heal herself with the little chakra she had alone. She feebly army crawled out of the dampened sand and onto the grass, where again she let herself rest. Just the minuscule amount of motion drained what strength she had left—it was dwindling fast.

* * *

"Shut up!"

Her fist slid through his face as it morphed into water, then returned to it's natural state where a lazy mouth with sharp teeth laid pleasantly. A large vein pulsed on Karin's forehead and she stomped angrily in front of him. Suigetsu mockingly nursed his face quickly.

"Calm down!" Suigetsu sweat dropped, waving his hands defensively in front of his face, "sheesh. . ."

Ahead, the back of a taller man faced them—the Uchiha symbol stood proudly against his white garb as he continued on forward. Karin rushed up beside him when she realized Suigestu had kept her behind.

"W-Wait up—Sasuke-kun!" She called drastically, stumbling beside him.

Sasuke's face hadn't changed in response to reveal he had acknowledged her presence. Suigetsu sighed heavily. It had been a couple hours after Sasuke had decided to head out and their newly thin jackets billowed about them; Suigetsu secretly thought the Akatsuki attire fit Karin quite attractively with her blazing red hair. The said girl giggled quietly as she fixated her peripheral gaze on Sasuke as she towed along—being as docile as she could—beside him, adjusting her thick rimmed glasses.

"Where are we going?" She asked hesitantly after a moments pause. Sasuke shot a quick glance towards her, then returned it to the road in front of him. A few moments passed. Sasuke was probably deciding whether to answer her or not.

"Konoha." He finally replied curtly, void of any kind of detectable emotion.

"Really?" She inquired with mild surprise, turning to face him, "Why there?" she pursed her lips.

Suigetsu coughed intentionally, attempting to cue her to shut up. This time, however, Sasuke didn't answer. Which didn't surprise Suigestu in the least, after all, it wasn't really Karin's buisness. But Suigestu knew exactly why. Konoha; it was Sasuke's precious home where all his close friends resided, but also where his family was brutally killed by his brother. Suigestu shivered, having not been spared the truth about Uchiha's infamous past. It was textbook stuff now, he thought to himself grimly, feeling a tinge of guilt for the lone Uchiha.

He wondered dimly if Sasuke and his friends were still as close; he could recall the time when Sasuke had told him and Karin about them; not much of course—it was Sasuke, after all—but he could have sworn his eyes revealed the tiniest warm glow that told Suigestu that Sasuke wasn't as cold hearted as one might think. He didn't doubt his bonds, just wondered if Sasuke intentionally forgot them. As to why they were headed to Konoha? He decided, finally, that he really didn't know. That scared him.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun?" Karin mumbled quietly, fidgeting with her overly large sleeves, "Are we going to see your family?"

Sasuke visibly stiffened, and then he stopped. Suigestu crashed into the back of him unceremoniously. Sasuke turned to glare fiercely at Karin; she suddenly regret anything that came out of her mouth. Suigestu sighed. It was going to be a very, very long trip.

* * *

They stopped to set up camp on the outskirts of a small Sound village, and when they had finished, it was Suigetsu that spoke: "Sasuke," he held up two emptied canisters in each hand, waving them around lazily, "we're low on water,"

Sasuke, who had just finished up igniting the small fire in the heart of their small camp, looked up passively at the item in question and nodded.

"There is a lake—about a half a mile from here," Sasuke nodded in the general direction as he stood, "take them, replenish them, and return as quickly as possible."

Suigetsu nodded, packed the canisters away in a small backpack, and slung it idly over his shoulder. Glancing at Karin, he could tell she was ecstatic by the impish smile on her lips—she was finally going to have time alone with Sasuke. Suigetsu mentally snorted, thinking that she had as much of a chance as a rock and he figured that, by now, she would have learnt that Sasuke had walls of steel. He was not one to meddle with bonds, that was a given. Sasuke was a walking ice cube, but he had his rational reasons. Suigetsu supposed that Sasuke would at least eventually warm up to them—him and Karin. He had too, right? Well of course, it was quite a humorous thought to imagine Sasuke becoming chummy with them; but even the light sharing of background shone a little trust blooming... Karin was a totally different story. As smart as she was, she could be incredibly dense. Though something subtle about her stirred something inside him—though of course he was only be imaging it, she was his "teammate" after all. Surely her burlesque attitude was enough to scare him away...

By now, as Suigestu leapt away through the forest, he could slightly see a slim line of an opening through the trees where the lake was located. He sighed in relief as he landed, balancing himself briefly. The lake calmed him, and he found that his thoughts unwound themselves as he looked across the wavering lake which reflected the moon like sleek black glass—clearing his mind of unwanted thoughts. Kneeling carefully over the water, he removed the canisters one by one from his pack back and filled them as quickly as he could—Sasuke would have one hell of an attitude if he was gone longer than expected.

A sudden transit of bitter wind blew across him as the wind shifted directions; he found himself shivering, and the fresh aroma of lilac flitted through the air and into his nostrils. He sighed contentedly to himself, having been used the musty odor back when he and Team Taka had to lay low and keep hidden in Orochimaru's hideout. He figured he was ready for a change; he knew Karin and Sasuke were, too, even if they hadn't voiced it. Finishing up, he slung the backpack over his shoulder once more and just as he turned to leave, he stopped dead in his tracks. He sniffed nimbly.

There was no mistake. He could smell it; taste it, even. The stench had always made him irate and now, as he scrunched his nose in disgust, he slowly recognized it. It was so pungent that he wondered why it had not reached him earlier. Blood. The metallic stench hung heavily in the air, suffocating him suddenly as his mind clicked. Someone—or something—was dying. Not one to be careless, his curiosity seized him as he peered around hastily. The lake spread a good fifty meters across, and if he wasn't careful in the gaping opening, he could be spotted by unknown Sound shinobi that lurked in the foliage. Sasuke would be incredibly cross, he thought sarcastically, if he returned towing enemies on his heel. But Sasuke's indigence was about to be the last thing on Suigetsu mind as he swept the area thoroughly, searching for the source, half expecting an animal, half expecting nothing but a puddle of hour old blood.

It wasn't long before he caught a slight glimpse of a thin crimson trail leading into the brush—like the dying thing had agonizingly dragged itself forward, despite the fact that it was probably near death. Suigetsu bent down and dabbed his finger in the red matted grass experimentally. It was slightly dry, he noted warily. The trail led farther, deeper into the forest and away from the lake; Suigestu cocked his head in confusion and made an odd face. Shrugging, he continued to follow the trail into the forest, watching it skeptically, he noticed the blood trail began to thin and disappeared into a mess of bushes. A thunder started inside his chest. Whatever it was, it laid just beyond him, obscured by a layer of leaves. Slowly, very slowly, he inched forward with his hands to spread away the greenery, gulping. The bushes parted slowly...slowly...

Suigetsu leaped back in surprise, clutching at his racing heart, his eyebrows disappearing behind his bangs. There, underneath the brush, laid a dying woman. She was unconscious, and—if Suigetsu hadn't had such sharp senses—he would have announced her dead. Her chest fell slowly—too slow for any civilian to catch. Her lips parted minutely, where an exhale was barely audible. A trickle of blood fell from her lips. Her hair was petal pink, and she didn't look like any kind of real threat—especially in the position she was in now. The thin trail of blood disappeared underneath her, where a dark pool surrounded her. Beside her sat a kunai, which was stained crimson. It was as clear as day she had been critically stabbed. Suigetsu kneeled down, having recovered from his shock, and took the bloody kunai, turning it quizzically in his hands. He noted dimly that the tip of the kunai had been laced with a kind of poison—he sniffed it, made a face, and gazed at her resting body.

Suigetsu sighed and stood. He wasted enough time as it was and Sasuke was going to be very displeased with him. He turned on his heel when suddenly—

A small, petite cough broke the silence, and—reluctantly—Suigestu stopped. Turning to look over his shoulder, the slender girl trembled, and her eyebrows knitted in pain. She coughed a second time and Suigetsu mentally slapped himself for what he was about to do. He was not to get involved with any kind of outside communication—Sasuke said it himself. Sighing again, he turned fully around to face her and approached her cautiously, as if she was actually a threat. He knelt beside her and laid his palm on her scalding forehead. She was dying, and he suddenly felt sorry for whomever this woman was. Guilt seeped into his heart. There had to be something he could do.


	4. Chapter 3

It felt like she had been set on fire. Burning from the inside out, the flames licked away at her body, scorched her veins, charred her flesh. The flames were caged within her, burning ravenously, yearning to find an opening in order to swallow her whole. Inside, she was screaming in agony—the flames were hidden amongst a thick black void. She could feel her body melting away but all she could "see" was the blindness before her. A sudden sensation jolted her, muting the burning for only a moment. But in that moment, if she had been conscious, she would have fallen to her knees and choked on her tears of relief. The sensation relived her for only a sliver of a moment, but enough to crave it once more.

The burning slowly subsided, retracting back inside a black hole from within her; a monster that lurked inside, scorching her soul. Ever so cautiously, she relaxed. It was only then that she realized she had fallen unconscious and that the poison was making it's jolly way through her veins. She was being jostled, not harshly, but enough for her realized she was moving. Fast. She let out a choked cry, relieved to have regained consciousness and escaped the flame that wrapped its fist around her insides. The agony ripped her from within. A cold hand groped her shoulder. Another hand wove it's way underneath her knees. For a moment, she panicked. Her eyelids were still too heavy to open and she could hear another breath beside her own. She was being kidnapped. Taken as hostage. Held against her will. If she could move, she could've twisted herself free. Instead, she felt as heavy as led, a rock, a building, a three hundred pound paper weight. To anyone else, she knew she looked deadly unconscious, unmoving and void of life. But inside she was bristling with kindling rage.

Hours passed—or so it felt like—and her memory cut into slits, blacking out for several minutes—or maybe it was seconds or hours, it felt no different—and her thoughts were as broken and as cut as an aged, angrily scratched record, skipping several notes at a time, jumping around aimlessly. The center of her head ached with dull pain, though it was nothing compared to the flames that engulfed not long before.

Finally, her jostled body was no longer being jarred. There was a mumble of incoherent words, and then there was an angry voice—high pitched, female.

"—the _hell_ were you thinking!" the woman's voice bellowed, though she sounded slightly far away. "Are you crazy? Do you know who that is? Do you know what she does? Is she an enemy? Is she dangerous? You wouldn't _know_ would you, Suigestu, because you act without thinking like an imbecile!" there was a subtle slap and Sakura assumed she angrily threw her arms down to her side out of frustration. She continued; "how _dare_ you bring a another woman near _him_, for all we know, she could be a suicide bomber, or—or a spy!"

She heard a small, frustrated sigh escape from a mouth above her, "Karin..." he seemed to say with forced patience, "do you even have a heart?"

It was quiet for a moment as a contemplative silence took place and Sakura could feel the tension between the two. She couldn't put her finger on their relationship, whether they were friends, or just team mates, or brother or sister. Whatever they were, they seemed to speak with angry familiarity on their tongue.

When Suigetsu spoke, it was quiet and barely audible; "Is this about Sasuke?"

At that very moment, Sakura's insides turned to ice. An icy jolt of shock shook her fully conscious and she felt her physical body tense up so quickly that she realized she had caught her captors attention. Her eyelids still remained to heavy to lift. She could hear her own ragged breathing amongst the thickened silence. She assumed her sudden movements captured the attention of both her captors, as nothing was said; their silence a simple sign of focus on her. Too afraid to move, Sakura returned to playing dead and after a few moments, the man began speaking again, this time, solemnly; "Karin," he began quietly, "I know how you feel about him, but for the sake of a life—"

"Don't talk about him," the woman interrupted angrily, "you don't have any clue how I feel. You couldn't begin to understand how I feel about him—"

At this, Sakura's heart sank even further into an icy abyss. Another woman loved Sasuke. Another woman had taken her place in her absence. Another woman loved Sasuke.

"—and who are _you_ to place guilt in my heart? Since when do you save lives? We eliminate it. _You_ eliminate it. We are not angels, we do not waste our time on pitiful creatures who are—are—" Sakura felt as if Karin stabbed her finger in her direction, "—practically dead. Don't accuse me of being heartless when you're the one with a puddle of water for a heart, Suigetsu. If you had wanted that kind of path, you should have left Sasuke and I alone a long time ago."

Silence froze over, and not a word was spoken for what seemed like the longest time. Sakura digested their fiery argument with a subconscious resentment, and a broken heart. The woman spoke of Sasuke like they were one. As if Sasuke was the only light in her life—If Sakura were not in a dangerous position where humor would most likely get her killed, she would have laughed hysterically. Sasuke? A light? He was the shadow that blackened her soul, but the sinner that held her heart. Tears stung her eyes, barricading against her eyelids, threatening to break through and slipping down her "unconscious" face. She loved Sasuke. Sakura, over time, had come to believe she was the only girl who ever loved Sasuke like she did. Nobody was closer to Sasuke than her—they couldn't be, right? Sakura was the closet thing to a "companion" as she could get. She trusted him, he trusted her. She loved him, he hardly acknowledged her. How could she let him slip through her fingers so easily. Now, a woman she had never met, in a place she'd never been, claimed her feelings for Sasuke. A tear slipped under her eyelid and she felt it roll delicately down her cheek.

She was being jostled again though she knew this time he was walking very slowly—very slowly passed the woman who loved Sasuke, the woman she suddenly hated. The tip of her hair brushed the immobile woman as they moved passed her silently, angrily.

She opened her eyes.

Above her, the jet black sky covered the night like a sequined blanket, twinkling and shining. The world around her was unfamiliar, and as she looked up to the right, she was looking at her captors chin. He had blue hair which Sakura caught herself staring at blindly, and as he exhaled out his mouth, she could barely make out the sharpened teeth of a sharks. Sakura bit back the surprised gasp. Her first instinct was to twist herself wildly until she was free, but to her surprise, her body was frozen limp. She knew the poison had ripped through her system, but she never knew how quickly.

Sakura didn't know when, but eventually the soft lull of Suigetsu's walking drifted her to sleep. When she woke, a selected warmth hugged her and she sighed in relief; she was in front of a campfire which made up for the bitter cold. Attempting to sit up, she moaned in pain. She was no longer limp, but every movement struck her nerves like angry hammers and she could barely move her limbs. Looking around skeptically, she realized there were two tents, one on each opposite side of the fire. Something inside of Sakura died when she realized the woman they encountered earlier more than likely traveled with Sasuke—slept in the same tent. A cold wind brushed her shoulder, and she trembled.

"You've got some nerve." a voice behind her spat poisonously, causing Sakura to jump out of her skin. Sakura snapped her head around in surprise to face the vexed expression of a redhead sitting nonchalantly behind her in front of an erect tent. The woman turned away curtly with a quiet 'humph', and Sakura rolled her eyes and turned back to the flickering fire. Though Sakura didn't know where she was, she at least knew she wasn't in any real 'danger' besides the red headed woman who kept indignantly turning her nose away from her. Sakura wondered where "Suigetsu" had gone to, but she defiantly wasn't going to ask the bristling woman behind her. It was only Sakura and that red headed girl alone, which made it that much more uncomfortable. The sensible side of Sakura begged for information on Sasuke through "Karin", but inner Sakura was livid and fuming inside her head.

Sakura never hated herself so much in her life. How could she let herself become so vulnerable in such a short time. There were people out there that needed her. That young girl was still out there, being forced into marriage, possibly raped and abused. Sakura scowled to herself. Such an unlucky time to fall ill. She stared at the flickering flames in fixed concentration, chewing on her lips thoughtfully. She was terribly afraid—as much as she told herself she wasn't—that Sasuke was somewhere near her.

A long spell of silence laid over them for some time and, if she couldn't have heard the redheads heavy breathing, she would have guessed she'd have fallen asleep. She herself could feel her eyelids weighing heavy again and she let herself lay gently on her side—careful not to jar her injured back. Speaking of which—

Sakura gave a small snort when she realized the odd, scratchy feeling on her back was a homemade bandage and she gave a small, devilish grin when she imagined redhead treating her wound. She must have hated it, she must hate her. Sakura didn't care in the least. She wasn't ever going to see that woman again in her life after her wound healed and she could escape with elegant ease. But for now, she would lay quietly and be silently thankful for being alive. There were no shackles on her wrists, no ropes hugging her legs, no duct tape suction cupped to her lips, no blind fold obscuring an unexpected death. They had been no threat—yet. But Sakura was smarter than that.

She would lay low and submissive for as long as she possibly could—or could stand, anyway. The man who saved her—she owed him her life. But Sakura wasn't about to just believe that he had saved her out of the goodness of his heart; she wasn't stupid. He patched her up which gave her an unsaid idea that maybe, just maybe she could thank him. Maybe.

It wasn't long before she began to drift off again.


End file.
